Lhug-Pa wrote:This isn't from the periodic-cleanse side but is more from the maintainance side: stay away from all processed foods, GMO's, artificial colors & preservatives, and synthetic pesticides.

Water-wise: to remove fluoride, chlorine, chloramines, and other chemicals, get a reverse-osmosis system or use the reverse-osmosis systems that many grocery stores have and make sure to refill with BPA-free containers.

Also it is best to add a few grains or so of Himalayan salt, or some drops of liquid trace-minerals, to every glass of reverse-osmosis treated water, in order to re-mineralize it.

Or take a good daily whole-food vitamin, such as the ones made by Garden of Life; because heavily-processed non-whole-food vitamins have actually been shown to be not only a waste of money, but are actually bad for you to boot. Non-whole-food heavily-processed "vitamins" also lack bio-flavonoids and enzymes.

The "ascorbic acid" found in heavily-processed non-whole-food vitamins is not really Vitamin C, as 'ascorbic acid' is only part of what makes up Vitamin C; and, 'ascorbic acid' lacks bioflavonoids too.

The body naturally detoxes itself, so there is nothing to worry about, unless there is a lot of body fat combined with higher than usual toxin exposure. Best to avoid toxins in the first place, obviously, if possible.

Some people have genetic mutations that can disrupt the normal detoxification pathways in the methylation cycle (up to 40% of people have a version of this mutation and some of those people have detox problems).

Personally, I've recently discovered I've been living in a highly toxic, moldy environment. I had quite violent reactions, so I'm doing everything I possibly can to keep the toxins from storing in my body. I take lots of Vitamin C for all the reasons to do so in addition to the fact that it is a precursor (along with NAC) to glutathione, which clears toxins from the body. I read a study, though can't find it right now, that meditation actually increases the body's production of glutathione. Activated charcoal helps as well. There are other things I do but I think the best supplement I have been taking to detox is bentonite clay. This stuff makes me feel amazing about 30 mins after taking it because it has been shown to bind to mold toxins in particular, which is what I'm trying to detox. I can feel strong, noticeable differences after taking bentonite clay.

This video deals with mycotoxins in particular, but some of the recommendations can be applied to other toxins as well:

Also, we are living in an increasingly toxic world so I think avoiding toxins and detox protocols are becoming more important than ever. However, I think there tends to be lots of scams out there, as with anything where profit can potentially be made...

"Seek truth in meditation, not moldy books. Look in the sky to find the moon, not in the pond." - Persian proverb

Along these lines, I go to a very good evidence-based naturopath, and his #1 health recommendation for 'detox" is weight loss, simply due to all the stuff that gets stored in fat. What he would recommend to someone at ideal weight I have no idea..but this being America, I doubt it comes up very often!

Losing weight is really important for detoxing. The body stores toxins in fat cells to protect the brain from toxin exposure. I think this is responsible for a lot of extra weight on people. People get overloaded with toxins, increasing number of fat cells. Especially considering increased chemical use on crops, pollution, and other increasing environmental toxins these days.

"Seek truth in meditation, not moldy books. Look in the sky to find the moon, not in the pond." - Persian proverb

This tends to be a controversial opinion, but, for me, water fasting and liver detoxes are, by far, the best. But you have to properly prep for both of them, or disaster could ensue. You also need to gently break the fast/detox properly with a raw vegan diet or, again, problems could arise. Just my $0.02.

Roland wrote:Losing weight is really important for detoxing. The body stores toxins in fat cells to protect the brain from toxin exposure. I think this is responsible for a lot of extra weight on people. People get overloaded with toxins, increasing number of fat cells. Especially considering increased chemical use on crops, pollution, and other increasing environmental toxins these days.

I like to fast as often as possible. At least once per week, for 36 hours, and am careful to not overload my digestive system.

After living this way for a few years I can quickly notice the effects of "bad food" as excessive mucus accumulates in my nose.

Of course water is essential to life but I prefer to drink as little as possible (that's still >litre per day) and let my body take water from vegetables instead.

As previously mentioned the body naturally detoxes when it gets the chance.

March 2015. My core beliefs do not accord with Buddhism. I do not believe in mind. I believe in Atman (manifest spirit), and in Brahman (transcendental spirit) and that the Atman-spirit is (usually) cyclically reincarnated.

I saw a documentary about the benefits of fasting some days ago and I'm very inspired.The conventional medicine starts to explore the function and effects of fasting now, finally - and the results seem to be surprising for them. Fasting helps against:- depressions,- bad sideeffects of chemotherapy, while it works against cancer also,- and many other problems with the internal organs and bloodpressure...Not talking about the ordinary mental effects of fasting.

The history of mankind shows also, that there were always periods of fasting/hunger in the lifes. This was normal. The human body is not made for all these things you can buy and fill the refrigerator and stomac with.

I'm in a three-days-fasting now, with taking water, tea and also some helpful fluids containing some calories like ananas juice and vegetable stock. Fresh lemon with boiling water and a little bit of salt seems to be very good also.I feel light and happy - and not hungy at all.

Okay, maybe I chose the wrong thread with wrong headline - but apart from the issue detoxification, "liver" is a good keyword if we are talking about fasting:A man with a liver damage was shown in the documentary, who visits the fasting hospital once a year, does fasting for two or three weeks - and he got a much better liver now and is able to live healthily due to this cure.

That makes sense, because the organs and the metabolic system seem to need kind of rest from time to time to degenerate.